17 Chapter 17: Reason for Going Back! Naruto's Choice!

"The Void?" Naruto asked.

"Yup!" Hateshi grinned.

"But what does that mean? That still doesn't explain anything to me!" Naruto pressed.

"Hold on, take a deep breath and relax, everything will be explained in due time."

"Hold on?! My friends are in trouble! I don't have time to relax!" Naruto shouted.

"Haha, maybe it'd be best if I just showed you then." Hateshi smiled.

Naruto was about to yell again when he suddenly saw an image appear in front of him. The image showed him what was happening with his friends, and he saw that nothing was moving.

"Do you finally get it?" Hateshi asked.

"No one's moving!" Naruto observed.

"Yup, so now you don't need to worry now, and I can take my time explaining to you what's going on."

Naruto grinned sheepishly as he sat back down cross legged and scratched his head. "I still don't fully understand it, but it means that my friends are fine."

Hateshi sighed as he leaned back. "Right, who am I talking to again, of course you wouldn't understand it just like that."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!" Naruto snapped.

"Oh, nothing really, just that you always did have a hard time grasping the really complicated matters." Hateshi grinned.

"I'm not insulting your intelligence, you just never really cared about the details and would always rush in head first."

Naruto couldn't help but be slightly embarrassed, because it was true, he always did rush in head first without spending too much time to think about things. It was just who he was, he slowly changed as he got older and he spent more time to think and ponder over things, but he still had a bad habit of punching first and asking questions later.

"Right now, the time in your world is stopped, which means no one is in any danger at the moment. But, I can only maintain that state for so long." Hateshi explained.

"Eh, you can stop time?!" Naruto asked with surprise.

"That's kind of not the point here, but yes, I can, for a period of time." Hateshi answered.

"What else can you do?" Naruto asked.

Hateshi sighed, "Can we please get back on topic, I only said the time in your world is stopped, not here, I can't maintain it forever."

"Oh! Right, sorry." Naruto scratched his head as he laughed.

Hateshi sighed again as he continued. "Now, let me explain, right now, you and I are existing outside of your world, and therefore, are no longer bound by the rules of your world."

Naruto nodded his head as he listened.

"As such, I am capable of viewing your world's history in any way I like, I could watch it in reverse or watch it flow chronologically, I can even pause moments and watch them over and over."

"So like a movie!" Naruto interrupted.

"Crude analogy, but yes, like a movie." Hateshi replied.

"Really? So that means you know what will happen next right?" Naruto interrupted again.

"In a way, yes, I did know that, but now I don't." Hateshi said.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"You see, Naruto, during your final battle with Sasuke, right before you died, I got an idea."

"What was it?" Naruto said curiously.

"What would happen, if I gave you a second chance to do it all over again." Hateshi smiled.

"Eh!? You sent me back in time!?" Naruto yelled.

"Yes, I did, now listen!" Hateshi sighed in irritation.

Naruto nodded as he closed his mouth again.

"You see, I am an observer, I have no way of interacting with the worlds that I see, so I can only watch as things take their natural course. Even if I develop fondness for certain people, there's nothing I can do to directly affect their fate." Hateshi began explaining.

"But then I started thinking, what if, I took someone's memories from the future, and sent those back to their younger selves."

"But, it couldn't be just anyone, it had to be someone with a very strong potential and fate."

"Why couldn't it be anyone?" Naruto asked.

"Hmm, let's see, how should I explain it?" Hateshi pondered.

"Ah! let's say time is a river."

Naruto nodded his head.

"The river will flow in one direction, the start of the river is the past, and the end of the river is the future, and the flow is the timeline between the past and future."

Naruto nodded his head again as he listened.

"Now, let's say people are rocks, and their potential and fate determine their size as rocks." Hateshi said.

"Got it." Naruto replied.

"What happens when you throw a small rock into the flowing river?" Hateshi asked.

"Nothing." Naruto answered immediately.

"Well, it's not quite nothing, the rock will generate a few ripples but after some time, the flow continues on as if nothing happened." Hateshi explained.

"But, what happens if you were to place a boulder within the river?"

Naruto pondered for a moment. "The river would flow around the boulder."

"Exactly, now, it's not so easy for the river to flow in it's original direction, it now must flow around the boulder in whatever direction the boulder lets it flow."

"Do you understand what I mean now?" Hateshi asked.

Naruto nodded his head as realization had hit him. "If you hadn't sent someone with enough potential and fate, then history would just correct itself and nothing they did would matter, but with someone with enough potential and fate, then history would change."

"Exactly, if I had just picked anyone, then even if they did manage to create a few ripples, the events would still flow as usual and eventually override any ripples that individual created." Hateshi smiled.

"This is why I picked you, your potential and fate were much higher than anyone else's, which meant you would have the highest chance of changing history."

Naruto nodded his head in understanding, now he knew why he found himself back in time, it was because of Hateshi.

"But how did you send me back?" Naruto asked.

Hateshi grinned as he began explaining again. "You see, as you were losing your strength, it became easier for me to tap into your memories, then I simply extracted your memories and sent them back to your younger self."

"But how does that work?" Naruto asked again.

"Think of it this way, your world is the river, and The Void is the river bank on the side, I can walk upstream or downstream without ever touching the river. But I can also reach into the river and pull out rocks and place them elsewhere. As you were dying, it became easier for me to lift you up, and move you somewhere else." Hateshi explained.

"I get it now, but how did I end up here now?" Naruto asked.

"That's a good question, but I do have a suspicion about it." Hateshi replied.

"What is it?" Naruto said.

"The figure that attacked you, do you know what it is?" Hateshi asked.

Naruto shook his head as he remembered it.

"It's a construct of your world. You see, the river will always try to follow it's natural flow, even when things are placed within it's path. The construct is a manifestation of your world trying to correct the course of history. Any changes that it detects that will alter the course of history, it will eradicate the problem and attempt to fix the change."

"Your actions up until now hadn't had much affect overall, hence why you never encountered the construct, but when you began fighting Zabuza instead of Haku, things began changing greatly."

"In the original timeline, Zabuza and Haku were meant to die, and would later be brought back using the Impure World Reincarnation technique by Kabuto. They would prove to be troublesome enemies to your allied shinobi forces during the Fourth Shinobi World War."

"Thus, the world deemed it necessary to eliminate you the cause of the change, and to kill Zabuza and Haku itself in order to correct History. But, when it sent the construct to eliminate you and it pierced your body, I suspect that in that moment, you were able to match the signature of it's chakra and you were able to link yourself with the world, allowing you to touch The Void, which brought your consciousness here." Hateshi explained.

Naruto nodded his head as he understood the situation, but he still couldn't help feeling daunted at the thought of having to go fight against the construct when he went back, he couldn't even react to it's moves.

"Do you still want to go back?" Hateshi suddenly asked, bringing Naruto out of his thoughts.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"I mean, if you go back, you'll be fighting against the world itself, your existence will be rejected by the world as it tried to eliminate you. Any other person would probably choose to not fight against it." Hateshi answered.

Naruto thought for a moment, then he looked up with determination. "I've always been going up against the world, back then, no one thought I would accomplish anything, and after all of my hard work, they started recognizing me!"

"This time isn't any different, I'll just work harder and change things, I refuse to let all those people die just because that's what the world wants!" Naruto declared.

Hateshi smiled at Naruto as he heard Naruto's declaration.

"You know, I always enjoyed watching you grow, and meeting you in person... was pretty enjoyable too." Hateshi smiled.

Naruto grinned back as he placed his hands behind his back. "It's weird thinking that you know everything about me, while I don't know anything about you."

"Well, that's to be expected, but don't forget, you still need to face the construct when you return." Hateshi warned.

Naruto took a more serious look as he nodded.

"Well, I say that, but to be honest, with how you are right now, you'll just end up dying without even knowing how you died." Hateshi laughed.

Naruto couldn't help but feel disheartened when he heard that, because Hateshi was right, he couldn't even react to anything it did, so how could he fight back?

"But, I might be able to help you out." Hateshi smiled.

Naruto stared at Hateshi as he spoke.

...

...

...

Kakashi, Sasuke, Zabuza, and Haku were all prepared to fight against the strange figure that had appeared. Naruto had fallen unconscious and was still bleeding out from his wound, they had no time to waist. But they knew they couldn't escape with the figure staring at them.

"For now, I suggest we team up against whatever that is so we have a chance to get out of this situation." Kakashi proposed.

"While I dislike the thought of teaming up with you, I doubt I could handle this on my own, so I'll go along with it for now Kakashi." Zabuza replied.

Sasuke and Haku nodded their heads as well.

"Luckily, it seems to only be interested in us, so we can leave Sakura and Tazuna alone while we focus on it." Kakashi pointed out.

"Well, whatever it is, it's about to regret making me it's enemy!" Zabuza commented.

"We'll attack together, Zabuza, you eliminate it's eyesight, while I eliminate it's mobility, Sasuke, you and Haku will attack together, but remember to stay cautious of it. We don't know if it can do anything else." Kakashi said.

The three of them nodded and got into position. Zabuza started forming hand seals as Kakashi took out a scroll and Sasuke and Haku got ready to attack at a moments notice.

Ox → Snake → Ram

<Water Release: Hidden Mist Jutsu>

Zabuza activated his jutsu creating a thick mist that covered the area. Kakashi opened the scroll and bit his thumb, then he smeared it across the scroll as he started forming hand seals as well.

Boar → Dog → Bird → Monkey → Ram

<Summoning Jutsu>

Kakashi summoned his ninja hounds as he sent them to the figure. The dogs bit onto the figure's form, pinning him down in place.

Sasuke and Haku moved at the same time at that moment, Sasuke sliced off the figures head while Haku threw needles into it's chest where it's heart and lungs should be. Sasuke thought they had done it when suddenly he was kicked away. Haku jumped over and caught Sasuke, while Kakashi knew something was wrong. He quickly started forming hand seals.

Ox → Rabbit → Monkey → Dragon → Rat → Bird → Ox → Snake → Dog → Tiger → Monkey

<Chidori>

Kakashi rushed towards the figure and pierced his hand through it's chest where it's heart should be. But he couldn't help but stare in dismay, the figure had lifted it's arm and caught it's head, then it placed the head back onto it's shoulders as it gazed into Kakashi's eyes with it's own empty sockets. Kakashi felt that something was wrong and tried to pull his hand away but discovered that it was stuck within it's chest. The figure then raised it's arm and swung down.